''Slam'' is a 1998 American
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed, co-written and co-produced by
Marc Levin
Marc Levin is an American independent film producer and director. He is best known for his ''Brick City (TV series), Brick City'' TV series, which won the 2010 Peabody award and was nominated for an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Fil ...
and starring and co-written by
Saul Williams
Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film ''Slam ( ...
and
Sonja Sohn
Sonja Denise Plack (' Williams), known professionally as Sonja Sohn, (born May 9, 1964) is an American actress, filmmaker, and activist, best known for portraying Baltimore detective Kima Greggs in the HBO drama ''The Wire'' (2002–2008). Sh ...
. It tells the story of a young
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
man whose talent for poetry is hampered by his social background.
Plot
Raymond "Ray" Joshua (played by
Saul Williams
Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film ''Slam ( ...
) is a young man growing up in the
Southeast, Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Dodge City, slang for a real Southeast D.C. neighborhood.
">/sup> Despite his innate gift for poetry
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
and his aspiration to be a rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...
, he finds it difficult to escape the pressures of his surroundings: violence and drug dealing. While participating in a drug deal gone wrong, Ray's close friend Big Mike is shot.
Ray is caught by the police and sent to the District of Columbia Department of Corrections' central detention facility. He is arraigned for possession of a controlled substance at the H. Carl Moultrie Courthouse and bail is set at $10,000. When his public defender explains his options ("cop out" and plead guilty), "rock" (stand trial), or "cooperate" (serve as an informant
An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...
), Ray despairs, particularly as he is being pressured to participate in a drug culture "inside" very similar to what he was a part of "outside".
Ray takes no sides, unwilling to believe that his options are limited to the choices he is being presented with. When threatened with violence in the prison yard, he retaliates with words, speaking the truths that he's witnessed in the form of a poetic rap meant to show the other inmates how their power and energy is being diverted into petty struggles with each other, rather than being directed toward the system that is keeping them down. In prison, he participates in the writing class of teacher Lauren Bell (Sonja Sohn
Sonja Denise Plack (' Williams), known professionally as Sonja Sohn, (born May 9, 1964) is an American actress, filmmaker, and activist, best known for portraying Baltimore detective Kima Greggs in the HBO drama ''The Wire'' (2002–2008). Sh ...
), whom he comes to respect and admire. She advises him to pay more attention to his talents.
When Ray is unexpectedly released on bail for a few days prior to his court date by an incarcerated drug dealer whom Ray had inspired with his revolutionary ideas, he is able to convince his friends and their Dodge City crew not to retaliate with more violence for the shooting — to break the cycle instead. He explains that the "projects
A project is a type of assignment, typically involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a specific objective.
An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of events: a "set of interrelated tasks to be ...
" where they all live and die are a government experiment and that continuing to kill each other is exactly what those who set up the experiment want them to be doing.
On the outside, he also reunites with Bell, and is welcomed into her circle of friends at a poetry reading at her home. They wind up spending the night together, despite her reservations about the future. The next day, she urges him to settle his legal troubles by agreeing to serve a year or two of prison time, rather than fighting the charges and potentially being put away for much longer.
They quarrel, because Ray feels that Bell doesn't understand his situation. He leaves, but shows up that night at a poetry slam
A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word, spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges.
Poetry slams began in Chicago in the 1980s, with the first slam competition designed to move poetry rec ...
event in D.C.'s Cleveland Park
Cleveland Park is a residential neighborhood in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C.
It is located at and bounded approximately by Rock Creek Park to the east, Wisconsin and Idaho Avenues to the west, Klingle and Woodley Roads to the sou ...
neighborhood that Bell had invited him to, just in time to see her perform an extremely powerful and empathetic piece that was clearly written for him. When the crowd demands an encore, she invites Ray onto the stage to perform instead, and he delivers an impromptu dramatic poem — scrawled as he crossed the city on public transit on his way to the slam — an emotional piece about black males and the criminal justice system. When the crowd demands an encore, Ray tells Lauren he needs to get some air, then leaves again. He wanders the streets until he is drawn to the Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States, victorious commander-in-chief of the Continen ...
.
Cast
*Saul Williams
Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film ''Slam ( ...
as Ray Joshua
*Sonja Sohn
Sonja Denise Plack (' Williams), known professionally as Sonja Sohn, (born May 9, 1964) is an American actress, filmmaker, and activist, best known for portraying Baltimore detective Kima Greggs in the HBO drama ''The Wire'' (2002–2008). Sh ...
as Lauren Bell
* Bonz Malone as Hopha
*Lawrence Wilson as Big Mike
*Beau Sia
Beaufort Benjamin Sia (, born 1976) is an American Poetry slam, slam poet.
Life and career
Sia was born in Ohio. He is of Chinese-Filipino descent. Raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Sia discovered spoken word poetry on MTV as a teenager. When ...
as Jimmy Huang
*Andre Taylor as China
*Rhozier Brown as the public defender
*Momolu Stewart as Bay, the jail rapper
Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry
Marion Shepilov Barry (born Marion Barry Jr.; March 6, 1936 – November 23, 2014) was an American politician who served as mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Barr ...
makes a cameo appearance as the judge at Joshua's arraignment.
Reception
The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The film holds a 61% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, based on reviews from 23 critics with an average rating of 6.8/10.
Accolades
It won the Grand Jury Prize for a Dramatic Film at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
as well as the Caméra d'Or
The Caméra d'Or ("''Golden Camera''") is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes selections (Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight or Critics' Week).
The prize was created in 1978 Ca ...
at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival
The 51st Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 1998. American filmmaker Martin Scorsese served as jury president for the main competition. Isabelle Huppert was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies.
Greek filmmaker Theo A ...
.
Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing hip hop music was released on October 13, 1998 by Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
. It was produced by Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky
Paul Dennis Miller (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American Electronic music, electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics "illbient" or "trip hop". ...
. It peaked at 84 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and 24 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...
.
Preservation
''Slam'' was preserved and restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Academy Film Archive
The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of mot ...
in conjunction with Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by actor Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and compo ...
from a 35mm interpositive, a 35mm magnetic track, DA-88s and an MO Disk. Restoration funding was provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...
, Sundance Institute, and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The restoration had its Los Angeles premiere at the 2024 UCLA Festival of Preservation.
See also
* List of hood films
This is a list of hood films. These films focus on the culture and life of African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and, in some cases, Asian Americans, Asian-Americans or White Americans who live in segregated, low-income urban c ...
Footnotes
- ^ In one of the opening scenes, the streetsigns for the intersection of Hartford Street, SE and 23rd Place, SE are visible, placing the setting in the real neighborhood of Knox Hill, Washington, D.C.
References
External links
*
{{Sundance Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
1998 films
American coming-of-age films
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Films shot in Washington, D.C.
1990s hip-hop films
1990s hood films
Sundance Film Festival award–winning films
Films directed by Marc Levin
Trimark Pictures films
Caméra d'Or winners
1990s coming-of-age films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films
English-language crime films
English-language musical films
1998 musical films